Post by Steve on Jul 6, 2018 14:37:01 GMT -8
The phrase “You Are What You Eat!” is not quite clear, but the fact that what you eat makes more of a difference to your life than you probably realize. Sure, eat the usual diet and probably add a few pounds every year, year after year. Your friends are doing the same thing. You are normal, Everyone accepts you, You casually continue this, probably always thinking you should lose some weight, But you don’t.
And now you are here. Either you heard about this forum from me, or maybe from a friend who knows me. It’s seems impossible to find with Google (I think), so welcome. I want to share some information that it took me five years to learn, and not because of my doctors telling me things!
You either know you are diabetic, or you suspect you might be! Clearly if you might be, please get a damn blood test to learn your current blood sugar level ( your A1c.) If this is old news and your diabetes is confirmed, what can you get from this forum? How to understand that number, first of all. That number will change your life.
The learning starts. The first thing you are told is “Lose weight! Get more exercise!” Great advice, and true. But NOT the first thing you should be told. You need some quick education about how food works. What happens as it is digested and goes to work? Here is a mildly technical first lesson:
Carbohydrates become blood sugar! Everyone thinks white sugar, or donuts or candy bars are the cause of diabetes. Yes, but there’s more to understand. Most every bite of food you eat is carbohydrate, and carbs become blood glucose (sugar.) Only animal products do not turn into blood glucose. So a piece of pie or a peach will both supply carbs. The sugar provides energy; the famous sugar rush. This is why people “carb load” on pasta before a big athletic event. But you carb load on Friday night pizza, or a fast food burger and fries!
Blood glucose is carried through the body to supply nutrients to the organs. Absolutely necessary, blood sugar is not a bad thing. Unless you over do it. When glycated blood (sugar attached to a red blood cell) hits the small veins (capillaries) that serve the eyes, teeth kidneys, and feet, the sugar attracts moisture from outside the vein, the vein swells up, some visual distortion occurs. But that subsides and may go unnoticed. This happens to anyone who loads up on carbs. It’s easy to do.
Now the dirty secret: Occasional carb loading (like eating whole bag of potato chips) is not totally bad. But repeatedly doing this will cause damage to the veins Eventually they no longer serve nutrients or oxygen, resulting in the famous problems of diabetes: vision loss and numbness of the feet (and probably hands.) This is neuropathy. There are no fixes, no recovery. It’s ermanent damage!
That’s a story a doctor won’t tell you. I’m doing you a favor. Go ahead. please check this. Google it, or ask a doctor. Or listen to me! I am only a guy who learned this the hard way. I am now blind in one eye, have reduced vision in the other, and my feet are numb. More details to be found in this forum.I want to help others slow the almost certain slide, I want to encourage you to start with diet and exercise before you join me in being limited by the effects.
So here we go. I want to share the good side of what most think is an impossible task: learning to avoid the bad foods, and getting out for a walk a few times a week. You can drop your A1c and be back to normal. Note: you will always be a diabetic, but you can be a controlled diabetic. I started at 11.5 (very bad) and have now been under 6.9 for more than a year. Get on this trip with me. We can learn from each other. Srat browsing this forum. I will be continuing to add but there is plenty for a newcomer. And welcome to BloodNumbers. Please registered stay a member.
And now you are here. Either you heard about this forum from me, or maybe from a friend who knows me. It’s seems impossible to find with Google (I think), so welcome. I want to share some information that it took me five years to learn, and not because of my doctors telling me things!
You either know you are diabetic, or you suspect you might be! Clearly if you might be, please get a damn blood test to learn your current blood sugar level ( your A1c.) If this is old news and your diabetes is confirmed, what can you get from this forum? How to understand that number, first of all. That number will change your life.
The learning starts. The first thing you are told is “Lose weight! Get more exercise!” Great advice, and true. But NOT the first thing you should be told. You need some quick education about how food works. What happens as it is digested and goes to work? Here is a mildly technical first lesson:
Carbohydrates become blood sugar! Everyone thinks white sugar, or donuts or candy bars are the cause of diabetes. Yes, but there’s more to understand. Most every bite of food you eat is carbohydrate, and carbs become blood glucose (sugar.) Only animal products do not turn into blood glucose. So a piece of pie or a peach will both supply carbs. The sugar provides energy; the famous sugar rush. This is why people “carb load” on pasta before a big athletic event. But you carb load on Friday night pizza, or a fast food burger and fries!
Blood glucose is carried through the body to supply nutrients to the organs. Absolutely necessary, blood sugar is not a bad thing. Unless you over do it. When glycated blood (sugar attached to a red blood cell) hits the small veins (capillaries) that serve the eyes, teeth kidneys, and feet, the sugar attracts moisture from outside the vein, the vein swells up, some visual distortion occurs. But that subsides and may go unnoticed. This happens to anyone who loads up on carbs. It’s easy to do.
Now the dirty secret: Occasional carb loading (like eating whole bag of potato chips) is not totally bad. But repeatedly doing this will cause damage to the veins Eventually they no longer serve nutrients or oxygen, resulting in the famous problems of diabetes: vision loss and numbness of the feet (and probably hands.) This is neuropathy. There are no fixes, no recovery. It’s ermanent damage!
That’s a story a doctor won’t tell you. I’m doing you a favor. Go ahead. please check this. Google it, or ask a doctor. Or listen to me! I am only a guy who learned this the hard way. I am now blind in one eye, have reduced vision in the other, and my feet are numb. More details to be found in this forum.I want to help others slow the almost certain slide, I want to encourage you to start with diet and exercise before you join me in being limited by the effects.
So here we go. I want to share the good side of what most think is an impossible task: learning to avoid the bad foods, and getting out for a walk a few times a week. You can drop your A1c and be back to normal. Note: you will always be a diabetic, but you can be a controlled diabetic. I started at 11.5 (very bad) and have now been under 6.9 for more than a year. Get on this trip with me. We can learn from each other. Srat browsing this forum. I will be continuing to add but there is plenty for a newcomer. And welcome to BloodNumbers. Please registered stay a member.
